IFD

On Sunday, Juventus hosted Inter at the Juventus Stadium and prevailed by a score of 1-0 thanks to a Juan Cuadrado thunderbolt.

Here’s how we rated their performances.

Goalkeeper:

Gianluigi Buffon (6.5): The Juventus custodian made some smart saves on headers from Perisic and Gagliardini but otherwise didn’t have much to do.

Defenders:

Stephan Lichtsteiner (6.0): Fresh off a one-year extension, Lichtsteiner put in a decent shift. While he looked like a liability at times both in the final third and defensively, the Swiss express did just enough to fend off the threat posed by Perisic on his flank.

Leonardo Bonucci (6.5): Bonucci was his typical dominant self at the back tonight for Juve and dictated tempo nicely. Along with Chiellini, the former Bari man contained Icardi brilliantly.

Giorgio Chiellini(6.5): The veteran defender was lucky not to have conceded a penalty after elbowing Icardi in the box. Other than that, Chiellini was rock solid and didn’t give the Inter forwards a moment’s rest. Take a look at those stats.

Alex Sandro (6.0): Like his fellow defenders, Alex Sandro was solid but unspectacular on the night. Got forward nicely on occasion but had a relatively quiet night.

Midfielders:

Sami Khedira (7.0): The German international really seems to be enjoying himself in the double pivot and played a key role again tonight. Khedira covered lots of ground defensively and even contributed with a few lung-bursting runs in the final third.

Miralem Pjanic (6.5): It wasn’t Miralem Pjanic’s best game in a Juventus shirt, however, he still had a decent game. While he would have liked to influence more of this game, Pjanic still made some timely passes and interceptions.

Juan Cuadrado (7.0): Juan Cuadrado is among the most frustrating players to watch play. When it’s going good, he’s scoring one-time screamers past Samir Handanovic from 30 yards out. When it’s not going his way, you’ll likely find him on the ground complaining. Luckily for Juventus, it was the former tonight against Inter. What a hit.

Paulo Dybala (6.5): The Argentine is still adjusting to his role behind Higuain and it shows. At times, he was inaccurate with his final ball despite having good intentions. However, the former Palermo man still proved dangerous and came close with a few chances. Almost found the back of the net with a lovely scissor kick early in the game.

Mario Mandzukic (6.0): Mandzukic did what Mandzukic does best and hustled the complete 90 minutes. Had a few chances to find the back of the net but they inevitably went begging. Decent performance from the Croatian international.

Forwards:

Gonzalo Higuain (6.0): Another mature display from Higuain. Despite not getting on the scoresheet, the Argentine contributed plenty to the side’s buildup play and pressed Inter’s backline nicely.

Substitutions:

Claudio Marchisio (6.0): Was brought on to shore the midfield mid-way through the second half and did just that. Guarantee.

Dani Alves (N/A): The Brazilian returned from injury with about ten minutes to play in this one and didn’t do anything of note.

Daniele Rugani (N/A): Came on for Dybala late in the game to secure the result and was successful in doing so.